Delhi Daredevils trim squad to 20 players

New Delhi, 2014/May/04 08:08:00

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With the squad already reeling in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with a string of losses, the Delhi Daredevils have decided to temporarily trim their Indian Premier League squad of 23 players to 20. The team management has decided to send home three domestic uncapped players, according the PTI. The three domestic uncapped players include Delhi-lad Milind Kumar, Haryana off-spinner Jayant Yadav and young Karnataka medium pacer HS Sharath.

"Milind, Sharath and Jayant have gone home for the time being. If they are required they would be called back by the franchise. Sending back a few players in the middle of the tournament has been a common practice among the IPL franchise for the past few years," an IPL source in the know of things told PTI.

With Milind, the distant but only local connect that the franchise had, is not there anymore.

The possibility of Delhi Daredevils recalling the trio is nigh impossible with the side already finding themselves fighting for the wooden spoon. For Jayant, it was also a tough road as he was the third specialist spinner after Shahbaz Nadeem and Rahul Sharma. Also, with JP Duminy being considered as more than capable off-break bowler, there was very little possibility of Jayant making it to the squad on the back of his bowling.

Similarly for HS Sharath, the lanky Karnataka lad is also way down the pecking order. With Jaydev Unadkat and Mohammed Shami being the two frontline Indian pacers, even Rahul Shukla of Jharkhand and Siddharth Kaul of Punjab are ahead of Sharath. Add to that the presence of New Zealander Jimmy Neesham.

Meanwhile, South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir's visa process is getting delayed and it is still not certain whether his services can even be sought for the match against Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday, May 7. Tahir has been talked about replacing injured pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile.

Kolkata Knight Riders' victory celebrations post their triumphant Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign were marred by a near-stampede followed by a lathi-charge as more than 150,000 supported clambered over barricades and gates to get a glimpse of their heroes.